Presentation on potatoes and satellites

During the past few years, a true revolution has taken place in the satellite business, according to Romain Cools, the President / CEO of the World Potato Congress Inc and Secretary General of Europatat in Belgium. Hundreds of Earth Observation satellites have been launched and are in orbit today, taking pictures of our planet on a daily – sometimes hourly.

It is now possible to keep an eye on every field everywhere in the world. Information can be derived from satellite imagery. For example, it’s possible to calculate a reliable indicator of a crop’s productivity (fAPAR). Thanks to the commonly available high resolution satellite data, you can now derive the productivity indicator for every spot in the field and even tell farmers which parts of theirs field need attention.

Romain Cools cites the example of WatchITgrow – the first platform to combine several types of data, developed in Belgium. Through the combination of satellite and drone images, weather and soil data and yield prediction models, the potato sector can consult, in a quick and efficient way, the correct information on one or multiple potato fields with the help of WatchITgrow.

Mr Cools’ presentation on this matter will be delivered at the G-STIC 2018 conference – more information available here